The incident was captured on a CCTVcamera. As seen in the video, the police constable was checking another car at the checkpoint when the speeding SUV arrived and hit him and another vehicle.After this, the driver fled the scene and drove through the barricades. The SUV was chased by other cops deployed in the area and the driver was eventually arrested.
The traffic police constable suffered injuries to his leg and head and was admitted in a hospital and has now been discharged. The incident brings our attention to pedestrian safety features modern cars are equipped with. The Indian government has mandated all passenger vehicles to be equipped with pedestrian safety features to reduce the fatalities in such instances.
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Why is pedestrian safety tech important in cars?
Pedestrian protection technology is a suite of features designed to reduce the risk of injury or death to pedestrians in the event of a collision with a car. As part of the safety mandate, the cars in India feature a pedestrian safety software that detects potential incidents using peripheral sensors. It will then trigger the hood to open, thus creating more space between the hood and the hard engine block, which can help to reduce the risk of head injury.
Other features include Automatic emergency braking (AEB), which acts automatically when an obstacle is detected and the driver fails to react. AEB systems can apply automatic braking to avoid a collision. Furthermore, when the pedestrian detection system detects any person in the road ahead, it can slow down the car to avoid a collision.
In the case of the Mahindra Scorpio SUV that hit the Delhi traffic cop, it is unclear whether the vehicle was equipped with any pedestrian protection technology. However, the incident serves as a reminder of the importance of these features.